'Killer Joe' distributor appeals NC-17 rating

The MPAA has issued a potentially fatal NC-17 rating for Killer Joe, EW has confirmed. The trailer park noir stars Matthew McConaughey as the titular police officer who moonlights as a hitman. When a Texas drug-dealer (Emile Hirsch) runs afoul of local kingpins, he hires Killer Joe to off his mother so he can collect her insurance money. If those colorful details weren’t eyebrow-raising enough, consider these – drug use, nudity (male and female), savage violence, and graphic sexual content. LD Entertainment, the film’s distributor, is planning to appeal the decision, though a rep for the company was unable to comment on the appeals process at this time.

Gina Gershon, Thomas Haden Church, and Juno Temple also star in Joe, which William Friedkin directed based on the same-name play by Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy Letts (August: Osage County). LD picked up the film at the Toronto Film Festival last September and it is projected to hit theaters this summer.